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Cardinals sign first round pick Gonzales

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Press Release |

ST. LOUIS, Mo., June 19, 2013 -The St. Louis Cardinals announced today that the team and lefthanded pitcher Marco Gonzales, their first pick (19th player overall) in the 2013 First‐Year player draft, have agreed to terms.

Gonzales, a 6‐foot‐1, 195 lb. junior was a two‐way player at Gonzaga University, but was drafted as a pitcher. He was 7‐3 with a 2.80 ERA in 16 starts (17 appearances) for the Bulldogs this season, striking out 96 in 106.0 innings, and did not allow a home run all season. As a batter, he led the team in batting (.311) with 2 HR and 26 RBI.

"It is still sinking in that we got Marco with our first pick," stated Cardinals Director of Scouting Dan Kantrovitz. "He is such a great fit for us and is somebody that I did not think would get to the 19th slot. He has thrown quite a few innings this year so we will take it slow and manage his workload." Gonzales was the 2012 West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year and a Golden Spikes semifinalist. His collegiate totals at Gonzaga included a 26‐7 won‐loss mark with a 2.34 ERA. He played for Team USA in 2010 and was a four‐time 5A State Champion for Rocky Mountain High School in Fort Collins, Colo., starting and winning all four championship games.

"It's cliché, but it really was a total team effort getting Marco drafted and signed," added Kantrovitz. "We had over 10 scouts see him in virtually all of his starts, and, on top of having all of our scouts agree that he is a special talent, both our performance analysis and the work we do evaluating pitching mechanics indicated that he is a "top of the class" talent. The icing on the cake is that he is a very humble, competitive, smart kid as well."